Another Atwood
by OneManShow
Summary: Apparently The Atwood Sister was a name taken already, so yes, I changed it, sorry for the confusion! This is set in the second season. What if Ryan had a sister that the Cohen's didn't know about? my first The O.C. fanfic R&R! DISCONTINUED.
1. Goodbye Chino!

Melanie opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. Had it really been a year since her brothers Trey and Ryan had been arrested. She had heard from Trey that Ryan had been taken by his defense attorney and was living there. Melanie had always had a close bond with Ryan even though she was only fifteen and he was seventeen. She wondered what Ryan was doing right now.  
Trey was in the living room talking to Dawn. Her mother just couldn't hold it together, no matter what. Not for Trey, not for her, not even for Ryan. So she was stuck sleeping in the room that should've been a closet, it only had room for a bed, and all of her other possessions were stuck in a different closet. Her mother's new boyfriend was a nightmare; he made Dawn even more drunk than she usually was. Trey was almost never there. Melanie was alone as anyone could ever be. Tears formed in her eyes as she got up and went into the hall and grabbed a backpack. She stuffed the few possessions she owned in it and left. She couldn't stay there for one minute longer. Although it had gotten better now that Trey was home from jail, it still wasn't enough. She got on the bus and rode until she arrived at Newport, California. Goodbye Chino!

**I know that it's a short first chapter but I just wanted to give you guys a taste. Anyways so please review and tell me what you think! Thanks! Lauren/OneManShow**


	2. Turn for the best, I hope!

Melanie waited in silence. She was sitting right in front of the door that Ryan had been living at for almost a year. She reached up and knocked on the door. She barely could do that. When she started thinking about just leaving then, a boy with curly dark brown hair opened the door. He looked a bit surprised.

"Uh...how can I help you?"

Melanie cleared her throat. "Is...is Ryan Atwood here?"

He looked startled. "Yeah, hold on, let me get him."

Melanie could here him yell up the stairs. "RYANNNNNN SOMEONE IS AT THE DOOR FOR YOU!"

Melanie cracked her knuckles, a stress reliever taught to her by Trey, but the only downside, it made everyone able to tell when she was nervous or upset.

Ryan opened the door. "Ye...?" He stared into her face. "Melanie?"

"Hey Ry..." She said.

He took a few steps toward her and pulled her into a deep hug. "My god..." he kept saying.

Melanie had to bite her lip to keep from crying. "How ya doin' Ryan? God I missed you."

"I'm doing great...what about you?" He asked.

"Uhhh..." she replied nervously, "not that good, actually. Trey's outta jail...Mom's got a new boyfriend, and she's still a drunk, oh Ry, I don't want to dump anything on you when your life is so good right now but Ryan, I just can't take it!" CRACK! Went another one of her knuckles.

Ryan looked at her. "Come in Mel, come in..."

And Melanie did so, and following Ryan, how could have ever known her life was about to take a turn for what seemed like the best?

**I am soooooooooo sorry I could not update sooner! I was at camp for a week and had no internet connection! I am very excited that you guys like this story. Anyways if you have ideas I'm willing to listen and I have a question, do you want this to follow the 2nd season, or for me to just make up what happens? And to answer PrincessSparkel15's question: Ryan was 16 when he moved in, but this is placed in the 2nd season so he is now 17. Anyways, I'll update as soon as I can! Lauren/OneManShow**


	3. Hi, I'm Melanie!

When Melanie came into the house, no, it was more like a mansion, her jaw dropped.

"Been livin' it up, huh Ryan?" She teased.

Ryan punched her shoulder playfully and steered her into what was most likely the living room. Sitting on the couch was the boy that answered the door and what seemed to be his mom and dad.

"Sandy, Seth, Kirsten," Ryan said, "this is my little sister Melanie."

The looks on their faces told Melanie that they obviously did not know that Melanie would be arriving, and how could they? Melanie only decided to come a short while ago.

"It's nice to meet you." Melanie smiled.

After the necessary hand-shaking the questions began.

"How old are you?" Seth asked eyeing her.

"Fifteen."

"Were you in jail to?" Kirsten asked suspiciously.

"No. Lucky I wasn't either, Mom would have had no one to take care of her." Melanie grimaced.

Sandy gestured her to sit down and so she did.

"Melanie," Sandy said seriously, "I think the real question is, why are you here?"

"Well...uh..." Why was she here? She hadn't really expected them to let her stay here, had she?

"I am here because..." Then her feelings came out.

"Because my moms a drunk, her boyfriend beats me, Trey's never there to protect me and I missed Ryan!" She said biting her lip to keep from crying.

CRACK went her knuckles. Ryan put a hand on her to keep her from doing that, he always said that it was a bad habit.

"Ryan, Kirsten, can I see you in the kitchen please?" Sandy said politely, "Now!"

Ryan and Kirsten went into the kitchen leaving Seth and Melanie in the living room.

"Sooooooo..." Seth said, obviously trying to make conversation, "what's it like in Chino?"

Melanie looked him up and down. "You wouldn't last two days there."

"No, probably not." Seth grinned.

Melanie grinned in spite of herself. She never really had any friends. That's because she hated letting people get close to her. She got to close to her father, and when he wound up in jail she could hardly bear it. She always thought that it was easier not to have friends at all then to lose them in the end.

Sandy, Kirsten and Ryan came out of the kitchen. They had decided what they would do about Melanie. She waited anxiously...

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN!**


	4. I could get used to this!

"Well we've decided," Sandy said, "oh Ryan you can tell her!" Sandy said because Ryan was grinning real wide.

"Hey Mel, welcome home." Ryan said punching her shoulder playfully.

"You-you mean it?" Melanie asked.

"Yes," Kirsten said, "any family of Ryan's is family of ours."

That broke Melanie. She hugged Kirsten.

"Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to me! I promise I won't be a burden. I'll clean and do chores that you want me to. Thank you!"

Kirsten looked taken aback. She looked over at Ryan who was shaking his head and laughing. She loved to see Ryan happy. Ever since Lindsay had left Ryan had been depressed, not that he'd let anyone help him, but it was great to see him smile again.

Sandy grinned at his wife as Melanie let go, a little embarrassed about acting out like that.

"Well, we'll need to buy you some new clothes." Kirsten said with a small smile.

"Oh, but, I brought some and-"

"Are they all like that?" Kirsten asked, implying the clothes rips and tears.

"Well, yeah. But I don't...I don't have any money." Melanie said.

"Don't worry about it! Do you think we'd let you stay here if we weren't prepared to supply you with food and stuff?" Sandy asked.

Melanie liked Sandy, he was real nice, not like anyone she knew. Yeah, she could get used to this.

Seth had a glazed look in his eye that clearly showed how bored he was.

"Wanna play PS2 Mel, Ryan?" Seth asked.

Ryan shook his head. "I've got to study for my math test."

"Sure!" Melanie said and she followed him into the pool house.

"So _this_ is Ryan's room?" Melanie said in awe.

"Yeah, you're gonna have the guest room, but then it won't be a guest room, it'll be your room." Seth replied to her.

Melanie laughed and then she and Seth started to duke it out playing some sort of racing game, she was beating him too.

"You're good at this." Seth said, "Are you sure you've never played before?"

"Nope, and I'm still beating your sorry ass." She said, grinning.

Yeah, she could definitely get used to this.


	5. This could get interesting

After a couple hours of beating Seth at Playstation over and over Melanie got bored. So she and Seth talked, she liked his wit and hilarity, she didn't think he was that bad looking either. With his dark brown hair, slightly curled and his deep eyes that explained everything and nothing—

What was she thinking? She couldn't love Seth, there was no way she was going to let herself get attached to anyone and go through heartache.

"And there's a great skate park..." Seth rambled.

Melanie snapped back into reality, "Oh cool, I like to skateboard."

"Really? I never knew girls liked to skateboard! Oooh that was sexist, sorry, it's just most of the girls here are kinda..."

"Materialistic." Melanie offered.

"Yeah." Seth grinned. "And preppy...I had a great girlfriend but," he frowned, "she has a new boyfriend now."

Melanie felt bad for him, this is why she musn't get close to anybody but Ryan.

"I'm sorry dude." She smiled at him.

Seth smiled back, "Thanks."

Melanie threw a pillow at him. Seth looked at her and grinned. He came at her with two pillows and hit her with them. She ducked under her arms and tried to run away but Seth grabbed her around the waist and swung her around. Melanie laughed.

Seth leaned forward and Melanie jerked back.

"Erm...sorry.." Seth blushed.

"S'okay." Mel replied hastily.

Ryan walked in and looked at the pillows.  
"What the hell have you been doing?" He asked looking from Melanie to Seth.

"Nothing." They said at the same time.

Mel looked at him and laughed. Ryan shook his head.

"Let's go skating." Seth said, looking at Ryan eagarly.

Ryan shook his head. "No. dude, you gotta study too."

Before Seth could even open his mouth Mel stood up for him.  
"What are you, his mom? C'mon Ry. It could be fun!"

Ryan pushed them out the door.

"I guess it's just us then." Seth said grabbing his skateboard.

Melanie nodded and dug through her bag and found hers. The skated to the park and when they got their they tried their hardests to show off for each other without even realizing it.

When they got back Ryan pulled Seth aside.

"Do you have a thing for my sister?" He asked.

"What? Like a crush? N-no man, she's just cool." Seth spluttered out.

Ryan looked at him curiously and then look at Mel sitting on the couch. He loved Seth like a brother, and so wasn't that like Seth and Melanie were related? But they barely knew each other...this could get interesting.

**Sorry it took so long! I had problems with this chapter. I'll try and get the next chapter up sooner!**


	6. Chapter 6

Melanie looked at Ryan eat, boy was he monstrous. She laughed and he just shook his head at her. Sandy came into the room and sat across the table from Melanie.

"Well," he said, smiling, "you will need to enroll in school sometime. How about tomorrow we go and talk to the principle about getting you into Ryan and Seth's school?" He asked.

"A p-prep school?" She asked nervously. She'd never been very good at school, usually just brought home C's at the most.

Sandy nodded. "Don't worry," he elbowed Ryan, "they let your brother in."

Ryan grinned up at him and Mel laughed. A knock on the door sent Ryan flying out of the kitchen and soon coming back in, but this time, not alone, with a girl. She had brown hair, a fancy dress, rosy makeup and some expensive jewelry on to express her radiance.

"Hi!" the girl said peppily, "My name is Marissa Cooper! You must be Melanie! I'm so glad to meet you!" Marissa extended her hand.

Melanie just looked at it, for a moment, and then took it smiling. "It's nice to meet you too Marissa. You must be Ryan's girlfriend." She looked at Ryan and grinned, "How'd my rough brother get a pretty girl like you to date him? He has no money." She joked.

Ryan faked punched her. . .was he blushing a little? Melanie could tell Marissa was. She seemed like a nice girl. A second girl walked in after them. This one had dark brown hair, some fancy shirt and designer jeans and a necklace on. She was much more played down than Marissa, but she still looked gorgeous.

"I'm Summer Roberts." She said stuffily, not extending a friendly hand as Marissa had. She obviously had heard about Seth and Melanie's. . .er. . .friendliness, but she already had a boyfriend, did she still have feelings for Seth?

Melanie smiled. Well, two could play at the evil bitch game. .

"My name's Melanie! I've been having a great time meeting the Cohen's. They've all been so nice, especially Seth." she grinned.

Summer frowned and Marissa bit her lip. "Well, welcome to Newport. You'll know your way around here in no time!" Marissa introduced. Marissa kind of reminded Melanie of a preppy flight attendant, but a lot more dressed up.

Kirsten popped her head in and looked at Melanie. "Well come on!" She smiled. "Oh hello Summer, Marissa!" she said taking notice of the other two girls standing in her kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Ryan asked.

"I'm buying Melanie some new clothes for school. Would you like to come Marissa? Summer?" She asked.

Summer shook her head. "I have to be leaving soon, plans with Zack."

Marissa shrugged. "Sure! It could be fun!" And with that the three girls left, leaving Ryan and Summer standing alone in the kitchen.

**Whew! It's been forever since I updated! Anyone still reading? looks around for readers I feel better now that I've gotten that up, been on my mind. I started school, so it might be a while for next update. . .but I'll try to get next chapter up soon. . . .maybe. . .**

**Lauren/OneManShow**


	7. ANSorry!

**Sorry for the confusion, but apparently** Buffangel-1989 **already had a story entitled "The Atwood Sister" so she asked polietly if I would change it, and I thought it was only fair if I did since hers was out first. So, I am sorry **Buffangel-1989 **and sorry readers for the confusion! **

**OneManShow/Lauren **


	8. Chapter 7

Melanie looked around the massive mall, it seemed to engulf her. She watched the many seas of people roll around in the rows and rows of clothes. She gulped a little uncertainly. Kirsten wore a genuine smile, and Marissa was yammering on about how she was going to love Newport and Harbor.

"It's a great school. I'm on the social chair." She continued.

"That's nice." Melanie said appreciatively. She really couldn't have cared less, but Marissa was a nice girl, and she could use the friendship.

They walked forward, to the first section of the clothes. Kirsten and Marissa picked a bunch out and Melanie was carrying around many shirts and skirts of pink, light blue and yellow. She was ushered into the dressing room. She picked up a light pink, long sleeved shirt and a white short skirt and put them on awkwardly.

She looked into the mirror and grinned in spite of herself. She actually looked alright. She stepped out of the dressing room and Marissa put her hands to her mouth and Kirsten smiled.

"We'll be getting those." She said. Melanie decided she liked shopping alright.

When they arrived back at the house Ryan and Seth were playing video games and Sandy, bent over papers from work.

Melanie and Marissa took the armful of bags up to Melanie's room and then collapsed in a heap on her bed.

"I never knew shopping could be so. . .Tiring." Melanie said.

"It's my favorite excersize." Marissa joked.

Melanie laughed, and then sat up straight. "So, now I'm being completely serious." She said, "What is it about my brother that makes you like him?" She asked.

Marissa shrugged. "I don't really know. It does seem kind of funny. I'm the type of girl who is supposed to have a 'perfect' boyfriend. Or at least, I seem that way. But I'm as dysfunctional as it gets. And I guess I like Ryan because he loves me, problems and all."

Melanie smiled. She liked that. She liked Marissa, she was good for Ryan. Melanie couldn't remember a time when Ryan had smiled like that. She knew it wasn't _just_ because of Marissa, but Marissa was a big part of it.

"Thanks Marissa." She said.

"For what?" Marissa asked, confused.

"You know, I'm not really sure yet."


End file.
